Chica Bella (7 page)

The captain pulled up the small craft, his two helpers waiting on the beach to help, or heave, people into the boat. There was a group of about seven people all waiting for the go ahead from one of the men on the beach. Landon tensed next to her, and she gazed up at his face. He seemed excited.

A minute later, the captain told everyone to get on, and before Maya knew it, she was flung over Landon’s shoulder being carried like a sack of potatoes. She laughed as she tried not to slam her face into his back.

The next thing she registered was him gently settling her into a seat. Giving her a quick kiss, he flung himself overboard and grabbed a man who was having trouble getting himself into the boat and gave him a boost to help him in. Next Landon picked up another woman, jumped in the boat with her, and settled her in a seat. He grabbed the hand of another man who was almost in, hauling him aboard.

She looked at him with pride. He was amazing and strong and sexy and…hers. Pulling his head down, she kissed him hard. “You’re pretty incredible,” she whispered to his mouth.

He chuckled and drew her under his arm. “As long as you think so, that’s all that matters to me. That was kind of fun, though.”

Snuggling up next to him, she listened as people thanked him for his help, and he made idle chit chat with them. As Lover’s Beach loomed in the distance, she wondered what he would do if he were to live a civilian life. She couldn’t see him being happy bartending or something like that. It would have to be something physical, something that had him in movement. Maybe he’d join a police force. But he was so highly trained it seemed like a waste of his talents. She searched her mind for things he could do here in Cabo, and came up with exactly
nada
.

What was she thinking? It may be years before he’d want to live a normal life, one free of the Navy and the SEALs. Hell, from what she understood, he couldn’t even put in for retirement until he was fifty-five. The fact of the matter was that he’d have to leave soon, for an unknown period of time, and she didn’t know if she would see him again until he showed up one day out of the blue. She’d be stuck in that limbo period again where her heart ached, her stomach coiled in fear and sadness made it almost impossible for her to live her life.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he whispered to her.

“It will cost you more than a penny.”

He looked at her. “That’s a pretty sad smile,
chica bella
. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She shook her head. “Nothing, Landon.”

“I’m going to get it out of you later, then,” he said into her ear, and then met her gaze.

She raised her eyebrows at him. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

He ran his tongue over his top lip. “I’m an expert in persuasion,” he said in a low voice. “I have many different techniques to get information out of you.”

She laughed. Only Landon could take her thoughts from outright depressing to titillating.

The boat pulled up to the beach of Lover’s Beach, and getting out was much the same as getting in, except the waters weren’t so rough as the beach was located in a cove.

They walked through the massive structure of the El Arco rock formation, to the other side of the inlet that was nothing but wide open ocean. The waves crashed violently as Landon and Maya sat on the beach together. Landon opened his cooler and handed her a beer. Maya took it, and they settled in to watch the sun set.

They sat in silence for a bit, and then Landon pointed up to the right at the beautiful, massive houses that looked as though they had been built directly into the mountainside.

“Still a lot of celebrities living up there?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Oscar de la Hoya still has a house up there, and I think Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger do as well. I don’t keep track of all of them, but mama does. She said there’s more…how do you say it…
personajes famosos
…famous people who own houses up there than anywhere else in Mexico.”

Maya sipped her beer as the sun went down. The ocean breeze became a little chilly. She moved to sit between Landon’s legs, and he wrapped his arms around her. He was better than any blanket. They talked quietly as not to disturb the beauty of the moment.

As the sun gave off its final glints on the ocean and settled in for the night over the horizon, Landon stood up. “We better get back to the other side so we can catch the last taxi.”

They walked across the sand back to the other side hand in hand, Landon said, “Do you want to talk about what was bothering you on the boat?”

Maya shook her head.

“So I’m going to have to use my incredible persuasion techniques?”

She laughed. “You can try, but you’re not getting anything out of me.”

He grabbed her and pulled her close and kissed her hard. Her knees went weak and her head swam as their tongues danced, and her body burst into the heat of desire.

“We’ll see about that,” he whispered.

Chapter Seventeen

The week went by quickly. Maya worked during the day and stayed with Landon at night. He sat in a lounge chair most of the day, either reading or watching her.

They had dinner at her parents’ house twice, which was always an animated affair. Maya’s aunt and uncle joined them, and the beer flowed freely, the tamales disappeared at an alarming rate, and the laughter was loud. Landon was beginning to understand more and more Spanish, so he could sort of keep up with the conversation, except when they started talking in what he called machine-gun Spanish. Then, forget it.

By the end of the week, Landon could say that he was relaxed. Being with Maya did that to him. Her touch soothed him, her laughter made his heart feel light. He felt better than he had in months, and only suffered one nightmare. He imagined putting down roots in Cabo and being with Maya for the rest of his life, and for someone who hadn’t had four walls and a roof to call his own in five years, the thought was terribly appealing to him.

As he lay back in the chair letting the sun warm his face and bare chest, he thought about what would come next if he put down some roots. He supposed starting a family with Maya would eventually come into the plan. Would he make a good father? The thought scared the shit out of him. He and his father had lived in the same house, but his father spent most of his time working. Landon recalled all the soccer games his father missed, and later on, the football games, the birthdays and he even missed his graduation from high school. So yes, he before his father's death, Landon did have a father in a biological sense, but not one who was actually there for him.

He didn’t want to be that type of father. He would be there for his kids.

His kids. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He pushed the ideas aside. There were a lot of hurdles he needed to go over before he could start contemplating babies and staying in Cabo with Maya.

He closed his eyes, and the warm sun soothed his bones. Most of the kids from spring break had gone, so the pool was somewhat quiet. Behind him the ocean waves crashed against the sand lulling him into a peaceful sleep.

“Landon.”

He slowly opened his eyes to see Maya standing above him smiling. “Wake up, sleepy head.”

“I fell asleep.” He yawned.

Maya laughed and sat down on the lounge chair. “I know.”

“What did you want to do tonight?” He took her hand in his.

She shrugged. “I’m a little tired, so I would really just like to relax.”

“Sounds good. How about room service and a movie?”

“
Perfecto
.”

They held hands as they made their way up the path to his building. He stole a kiss from her in the elevator, and he realized that even though he had just woken from a nap, he was still tired. Dinner in and a movie would indeed be
perfecto
.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she said when they got into the room.

“I’ll order dinner. Do you want wine as well?”

“
Si
.” She shut the door.

Just as he was about to call for room service, his cell phone went off. He froze. There was only one person who would be calling him, and that was his commanding officer, Marty. Shit. This was the phone call he was dreading and hoping for all at once. Would he go on one more mission, or was he done? One thing that was for certain was that he wasn’t going to find out by simply staring at phone.

He grabbed it. “Walker,” he barked.

Closing his eyes, he listened to his C.O. After a moment he said, “Got it, Marty. Thank you.”

He slowly set the phone down and exhaled. He turned around to walk over to the hotel phone to place their room service order and was startled to see Maya leaning against the wall just outside the bathroom door, her arms across her chest.

“I forgot my bag,” she said quietly, but didn’t move. “You told me two weeks, Landon.”

He met her stare. Maya knew what it meant when his cell phone rang. His C.O. was the only one who called when he was in Cabo, and that was always the signal it was time to ship out.

“Maya—”

“Don’t.” She held up her hand as if she were a crossing guard in a crosswalk. “I don’t want to hear it.” She strode across the room and grabbed her bag.

“Maya—”

“Landon Walker, I told you I don’t want to hear it! You told me two weeks. Minimum.
Dos
. And now you’re leaving again after one week!”

Her voice jumped up octaves at a time, and she started yelling at him rapid Spanish.

He didn’t understand much of it, but he caught some cursing.

“I appreciate you serving your country!” Tears flowed down her face. “But I’m tired of being the second!” Even when she was this upset he found her broken English endearing.

“Maya—”

“
Cállate
!” she screamed. That he understood.
Shut up
.

Landon was pretty certain she had reached hysteria. Definitely not an expert on women, but if he had been a betting man, he would lay a hundred down on silence being the best option.

More rapid-fire Spanish was yelled at him, and she turned for the door.

Two strides later, he had her in his arms.

“Maya—”

“Let go of me!” she screamed. If she kept this up, security was going to be called, so he slammed his mouth over hers while pinning her up against the wall. He forced the bag out of her hand and locked those flailing fists down while dodging a knee to the groin. He pressed his body into hers so that she couldn’t try that again.

When the fight went out of her, all that was left were the sobs. Easing up, he let go of her hands and she sunk to the floor, burying her head between her knees, her black hair cascading all over her back and shoulders.

He knelt before her.

“Maya—”

“When do you go?” she asked in a small, defeated voice.

“I don’t.”

She was silent for a moment, and slowly lifted her head. “What?” she whispered.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m out, Maya. I didn’t tell you because there was a chance I would have to go one more time, but my C.O. said no. I’m done.”

He watched the shock on Maya’s face.

“I just need to head back to San Diego and sign some paperwork, but that’s it.”

She stared at him.

“Maya, if you’ll have me, I want to stay here and be with you.” His voice was quiet and filled with need. “I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. I’m hoping like hell you want that, too.”

She continued to look at him, and she had stopped breathing.

“Honey, you need to breathe.”

“You’re…done?”

He nodded.

“You’ll never go on another assignment?”

“No.”

“You want to stay here and be with me?”

He nodded again, smiling. “Yes,
chica bella
.”

Maya threw herself at him, making him fall backward onto the hardwood floor. As she lay on top of him, more tears started up, and she covered him in wet, sloppy kisses.

He laughed, feeling as though his soul was finally free. That phone call had allowed him to embark on the future that he wanted, that he was ready to embrace. He would be able to stay with his Maya. He took her head in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. “I love you, Maya.” He meant the words with every fiber in his being.

“
Te amo también
.”
I love you, too
.

“Does this mean you want me to stay?” he asked. He was certain he knew the answer, but he had to hear it from her.

She tilted her head and gave him a small smile. “I don’t know,” she said in a teasing voice. “I think you need to persuade me.”

He laughed, standing up with her in his arms in one fluid motion. He marched to the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” She laughed.

“My persuasion techniques are very effective in the shower,” he said with a smile.

Epilogue

One year later

Landon snapped his laptop shut and looked out over the ocean, his work done for the day.

His business, providing security and house sitting for the celebrities that frequented Cabo, was doing well. He had two employees working for him who happened to both be fellow SEALs who also decided to get out. It was easy hiring them as he had trusted them with his life for many years.

He and Maya had found a small house on the beach. Jamming his feet into the sand, he stared out into the water. This was now his office.

“Hi,
chica
,” he said before he saw her. He had become acutely aware of when she was around, like his sixth sense was only tuned in to her.

“Hi,” she said, bending down and giving him a kiss.

“How was work?”

Maya continued to work at the hotel bar, even though he didn’t like it. He cringed when he thought of men…and boys…hitting on her.

“
Excelente
! How was your day?”

“It was good. Your favorite celebrity called. He wants us to come housesit.”